My Heart is Numb
by XAOTL Omega
Summary: Another oneshot. Ash is travelling, in Sinnoh, as a Tempest forces him to take cover. Is a Tragedy, mixed with  Advanceshipping, aamayl, ashxmay


**...and I have returned**

**This one-shot is only here because of the amount of reviews/people I made cry in my other Tragedy fic 'Forgiveness'**

**It was originally supposed to be a two-shot, but I feel that this format would be better.**

**Pikachu is not included.**

**I'll try to make this as tragic as possible, but I added a bit of horror in it.**

**I wonder if it is better or worse than my other Tragedy fic, so at the end review, I won't put any authors' notes at the end because it would just ruin the mood.**

**And the quote below will make perfect sense after you read this, and I'll put it once more at the bottom.**

"**You've saved**

**My soul,**

**Don't leave me now,**

**Don't leave me now."**

_Take That, Rule the World._

**And now I vanish to let you enjoy the story...**

----

**My Heart is Numb**

May opened her eyes; it seemed that the girl had been locked inside of a never-ending nightmare.

She saw the unimaginable.

But now her eyes were open,

And they were staring into another pair of eyes.

Their deep brown pools filled the void inside of her as she remembered whose eyes they were.

They were his.

"Ash" she whispered, noticing that they were only a few inches apart.

As the mind of the girl slowly awoke, she noticed that his arms were around her.

A slight blush arose on the girls cheeks, as all memories of the nightmare she was in seemed to vanish into thin air. It seemed to vanish into what seemed to be a blissful dream for her.

She had dreamed this dream, the exact dream many times. This time it was real.

She could feel, his warmth, his breath.

This was real.

It couldn't get any more real.

Unfortunately.

----

Ash Brock and Dawn were running as fast as they could go in order to escape the pummelling rain. Ash's hat would be enough to keep him dry in the short term, while the other two were not so fortunate. Especially Dawn, who was running the fastest in order to keep her hair dry.

They were heading towards a building that they had spotted, without taking much notice into how it appeared, to the three, as long as it kept them dry it was good enough.

They rushed through the wooden doors of the abandoned building with ease; it seemed as if the doors were left opened.

The three then dried themselves up upon entering, and then when they had the time, surveyed their surroundings. The place was old. The dingy green wallpaper was infested with damp, as it peeled off at areas. The walls had holes in several places. The wooden floor boards had obviously seen better days, as the colours changed at random places. The only light emanated from the windows that were probably rusted shut, and was a dingy dark grey which was accompanied by the continuous beating of the rain outside.

"This place... is creepy, can we go somewhere else?" Dawn said towards her companions.

"Of course" Ash replied, looking to his two friends, as they dried their hair. "That is if you want to go back into the rain" Ash finished off knowing that Dawn would rather kill than get her hair wet.

"AAAAActually, now that you mention it, this place has a... urm charm" the young girl said slightly unsure. But her hair was her first priority, rather than a creepy house.

"Charm? This place is a DUMP!" Brock said after getting a proper view of the place. "Personally, I would rather be inside of a nice warm Pokémon centre with Nurse Joy, ahh Nurse Joy." The breeder began to drool as he was whisked away in his fantasies. But the breeder was then snapped out of his day dreams by the view of daggers in Dawns eyes.

"Over my" the young girl said, but was then interrupted by Ash.

"Hey do you guys want to explore this place?" he questioned.

"No." The girl said plain and clear. She might be inside of the house, but that didn't mean that she had to go any further. But her opinion didn't seem to matter, as the boy had already seemed to be going up the stairs, the other two then reluctantly followed.

At the top of the stairs there was a long passageway, the floor had holes in several places that reviled pipe work that lay under it, and the only light that came was from a window at the other end, the deep dark grey light barely lit the long passage, and the doors that lay at the sides.

They walked down, slowly.

The eagerness of the trainer seemed to have worn away, as he sensed something in the air.

The other two seemed to feel the strange feeling as well.

Ash, felt the air cool down, as he heard a voice.

'_So you're here'_ it said in its sinister tone, the voice seemed to be deep and dark, as it echoed through the walls of his mind. The dark and sinister voice was not Ashes, but it seemed to be familiar, so familiar to the trainer. Like the voice that came from the deepest depths of his mind. The shadows that plagued his nightmares, and would make him hurt the innocent, and those he loved.

It was familiar to him, almost as if it was his, and yet it wasn't.

It wasn't.

the continuous pummelling of the rain seemed to end, from nowhere, and yet the dingy grey light that filtered through the window at the end continued to go on.

Ash could have stopped, but he didn't.

He wasn't in control of his own feet any more, as they slowly carried on. He could have stopped but something seemed to pull him.

Curiosity?

No. It was deeper than that.

Stupidity?

No. It was a deep feeling, the feeling that pulled the boy though the journeys of his life; and now it was pulling him towards this one.

The urge, the feeling to go further. The urge to break the next hurdle and not think about the consequences, this feeling had gotten his friends hurt many times, but he was always able to make up for it.

A hand then gripped his shoulder.

"Ash, let's go out now."Dawn said in a fearful voice, even she had felt the atmosphere darken. The trainer did not seem to register her words as he carried on walking, slowly above the creaking floorboards.

Towards the dark grey light at the end of the hallway, not diverting his gaze.

He passed a door, as he heard a groan of pain come from the other side. This then seemed to break the trainer out of his trance. He turned and opened the door, to see a boy tied onto a chair inside of the windowless room.

"Ash" the boy groaned, as he looked up to the trainer, with the minimal amount of strength that he had. The trainer did not recognise the boy due to the bad light, but rushed in anyway, as the other two followed. The boy was tied down to a chair by rope as the trainer rushed to untie it. Ash didn't make a second look at his face, as the light was already bad, but his hair also seemed to be unkempt. As its deep black hair ran down his face, masking it even more.

"Ash" he moaned once more, seeming as if he was stirring from his sleep.

Dawn and Brock then rushed into the room as Ash had finished untying the ropes.

"Max?" the breeder said as he got a good look of the boy, and lifted him up into his arms.

"Max!" Ash shouted in realisation, "WHAT, What happened Max." Ash said as the boy then tried to get out of the breeders arms and stand on his own two feet.

"You guys came, just like she said." He said slightly lost in his own thoughts, the others had no clue about what he had just been through.

'_Wait a second, if Max is here then that means'_ "MAY" ash stated, "Max is May here?" he said to the younger boy with worry laced through his voice.

"Yes" Max said, and that was all that Ash needed as he then bolted out of the room and back into the passage.

"Wait." Max then shouted to the trainer that was back into the hallway regaining focus, Ash then turned around into the room to hear Max's message, the door immediately bolted itself shut.

Ash tried to push the door but it was to no avail, he then launched itself at the door, but it still proved to be too strong for the boy.

He stepped back wondering how the door still held even though the house was clearly falling apart. He then prepared to launch himself at the door again, but heard two thuds come from the other side.

Ash then decided that it would be counterproductive to try and open the door from his side, if the others were also trying. He focused on finding May once more, he couldn't bear to see her in the same state as Max was, and he would hunt down anyone who dared to do this relentlessly.

Ash then focused his attention back down the hallway.

Something was different.

There was a figure standing at the other side.

She was a silhouette from the grey light of the window.

She looked him in the eye with a look of hatred in her eyes.

A dark black aura surrounded her.

But he didn't care.

He realised those eyes anywhere.

"May!" he shouted in happiness as he rushed over to her.

The girl then held out her hand, flatly.

Ash stopped in front of her, seeing her emotionless command.

"My, I'm so glad that"

"Quiet" she interrupted in a dark voice.

That voice.

It was not hers, definitely. Ash remembered her voice, the happiness that it contained.

But he had heard that voice before, somewhere.

That cold, dark, voice that was devoid of all signs of emotion.

"It took you long enough to come here you piece of filth" May spoke throwing her words to Ash, without feeling. All but one,

Anger, nothing but.

The words came to the boy like a ton of bricks, as he stepped back; his eyes began to water, as he blinked to keep the tears in. May was his friend, why, what would make her say things like this, why.

This wasn't May, there was no chance.

"Who are you?" Ash questioned a grin than began to form on her face.

"So you still don't remember" There was no chance that this was May, no, no chance whatsoever. Ash remembered May clearly, and that wasn't her smile. Her smile was as infectious as laughter, and brightened the day, this wasn't hers. It sent shivers down the spine of the trainer, and brought the already dark place even darker.

"You were the one who released me from my prison." She then laughed, no there was no chance anymore to Ash that this was May any longer. "You naive, little boy." It said to Ash.

Then it hit him.

"YOU! It's you, that evil king." Ash stated, realising that it must have been him, who had tied Max up.

"So you finally realise, Pathetic, it took you long enough. But this little girl proved to be enough for me to let loose my revenge. She was just as naive as you." The spirit spoke as the dark aura began to surround Ash.

He noticed as the little amounts of light that emanated, engulfing both of them in a dark shadow.

Ash then heard two thuds, as his friends once again tried to break through the door. Then he was in darkness, with the only entities present being him, her, and the parasitic spirit.

"Remember this?" the spirits voice stated.

"Yes, I remember, the way you controlled me to do horrible things, and now you're doing this to May. But I won't let you get away with this. All because you want to get to HO-OH." Ash said.

"The spirit chuckled once more, "You think this is about HO-Oh boy? No this is about you, you were able to come out of my grip, and now even my time is running out, but you will not be spared from my wrath.

You will die" it said once again emotionlessly.

Then he screamed, as Mays hands gripped her head and her eyes were shut tightly. Then she opened them, for a moment, a slim moment. Those were her eyes.

But the king quickly regained his control over the body, as his soulless eyes once again replaced hers.

Ash knew that she was in there somewhere, and that he was the only one who could help her.

There was no point hiding what he knew inside of himself.

As long as it would help her, it would be worth it.

No room for embarrassment.

No room for shame.

No room for the fear of rejection, there was no room for fear while he was in this sea of shadows.

For her, the trainer picked up the courage to do the hardest thing he probably had ever done.

Ash took a step forward.

"May I know that you are somewhere in there."

He took another step forward.

"And I know that you can win this."

He said with another step.

"I believe you, just like I have always done."

The spirit then began to realise what Ash was doing. As it revealed a small hand gun, and pointed it towards the boy.

"Not any further, or I'll shoot. Do you really think that you can reach her, she doesn't care about you, you were merely holding her back, and that's why she left you." The spirit said while pointing the gun.

But Ash saw something, he saw her hand shaking, she was in there somewhere, and she was holding him back otherwise the raven hared boy would have been dead by now. It didn't matter if she didn't feel the same any more, it didn't matter if she liked Drew and not him. He had to let it out.

Ash then took more steps until they were face to face, and he could feel her cold breath on him.

Ash put his hands on her shoulders, and stared into her eyes.

"Get your filthy hands of me." The spirit said, but Ash could now feel him shaking, Ash knew that May was breaking out.

Then the spirit conducted his final act.

The act that destroyed him once and for all, never to harm another.

The spirit killed himself by forcing all of his energy into one action.

This one action that his host fought with all her will to stop, and even he himself was against even he was unstable with the idea of killing an innocent.

He pulled the trigger.

Ash felt the cold hard bullet pierce through him.

But never diverted his gaze away from her eyes.

He let go of her shoulders and wrapped her in his arms, so that he would not fall to the ground.

Then in a blink, her eyes returned, as a smile warmed his face.

She whispered his name, "Ash"

"May" he replied softly.

Time was running out, and he had to say it now or he would never be able to say it.

"I love you May, and I always have. I love you; I've loved you all along. And I've missed you. We've been far apart for far too long." He said, to her saying the truth, which dissolved the shadows around them.

He then let go of his grip and collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

May got out of her dream like state, and saw the collapsed Ash on the floor.

"A...A...Ash" she said, then the girl looked at her hands, covered in blood, and in one the gun remained.

"What have I done?" She questioned herself, as she looked to her blood stained hands, and dropped the gun as it fell with a thud as it made contact with the wooden floor. She collapsed down to her knees, while still taking a look to her hands, stained by the fact that they were so close to each other when the shot was taken.

She then turned to the fallen trainer, and shook him violently, screaming her hopes out.

"Ash, Don't die, please, don't. I love you to, you can't die!" She screamed to the trainer, whose shirt was beginning to turn the red of blood. Her words did not penetrate to him; his ears were being pounded by the sound of his heart, as he looked to her eyes.

"I love you May" he said, as he then closed his eyes. Not speaking any more.

"I love you too Ash, please don't die" The co-ordinator screamed, as tears ran like rivers down her cheeks. "Please Don't... Don't Ash" she began to say in between sobs, as she too was lost in her emotions, her guilt; it was her hands that were stained with blood. It was her hands that were stained with the blood of whom she loved.

She then saw the gun lying on the floor, as she grabbed it.

There was no point in life, not anymore.

She pressed it against her chest, and pulled the trigger.

It then fell onto the ground as she felt the cold metal of the bullet.

She also collapsed to the ground.

She was on her side facing Ash who was also on his side facing her.

The thumping pain beat through her.

She heard nothing but her heart beat in her ears, but as she turned to him she smiled, and put her arm around him.

"You saved my soul, don't leave me now Ash, Don't leave me now." She whispered while staring into his closed eyes.

She then felt her heart go Numb, as she closed her eyes.

Now with him, finally.

Brock and Max, crashed through the door, as they got themselves together from the floor, ready to help Ash.

Dawn followed, and as she turned down the hallway, she saw a golden light from the sun shining through the window. The window was made of stained glass, only noticeable in the sunlight. It depicted the HO- OH bird.

The golden light shone down to the bodies of Ash and May, with Mays hand wrapped around him.

The two of them lying in a pool of blood.

As a tear ran down the face of the co-ordinator.

----x**THE END**x----


End file.
